I thought I read it as a passing statement, somewhere, but I could be mistaken. It's not typically something that adds to the suspense of a dogfight, I'd think, unless there was a failure in the system or something.

... Though, now that I'm thinking of it, wouldn't maneuvering thrusters be stabilizers in Star Wars? When Garvin Dreiss (don't know if I spelled that right) said he lost his stabilizer, he just kinda plummeted into the Death Star. Kind of as if he couldn't maneuver anymore.

I did note from Wookieepedia that they gave been mentioned a few times, specifically, in the EU, and the article image shows them along what appeared to be the nose of an X-Wing, so according to that they are around, they're probably just one of those instances that it was never bothered to be mentioned.